This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Plants and trees require a branching and robust root structure to properly anchor them in the ground. Plants that do not have good root architecture, but rather have developed circular or spiral root structure, often referred to as girdling, may live for many years in the landscape before succumbing to the inherent problems caused by girdling. The economic damage caused by root system failure can be considerable.
Lack of proper root architecture or structure may lead to uprooting due to storms, wind, or even field saturation of the soil. Girdling can also lead to issues with mechanical harvesting (shaking) of nuts and fruits in commercial horticulture. Trees that fall over degrade the landscape, diminish the aesthetics of otherwise pleasant environments, cause property damage and utility outages. In commercial harvesting, where trees are often shaken to make ripened fruit or nuts drop, trees without proper root architecture may be damaged or even be pulled from the ground due to the shaking, resulting in crop and financial loss. Large trees are not easily replaced in the landscape and commercial fruit or nut bearing trees normally require many years to mature before harvesting is again possible.
The botanical term adventitious roots, is used to describe where mechanical pruning of a tap root forces lateral rooting. Field research has shown that air pruning promotes root architecture that is superior to mechanical pruning, particularly for species with a tap root.
Furthermore, many areas of the world where the need of reforestation is greatest also have limited water resources. Thus, water retention is an important design component of any production system that is to be viable in these regions. When watering plants in some horticulture trays, water can splash off the canopy of the plants and into unintended portions of the tray, which can lead to over, under, or uneven watering of plants in the tray. Additionally, horticulture trays are often placed outdoors on ground that is not level, which can cause too much water to flow from one tray to another in some trays.
Horticulture trays are often used to transport, store, and grow seeds and plants. Horticulture trays allow plants to be grown in ideal and protected conditions before being transported to their permanent locations. However, the confines of horticulture trays can often cause root girdling that affect the plants long after transplanting into the landscape. Thus there exists a need for horticulture trays that eliminate root girdling and promote proper root architecture.
Although there have been efforts to address the problems mentioned above, adequate solutions for providing the robust, lateral root architecture sought are not available. Existing production methods and containers fail to promote a generally linear root structure. A horticulture tray that can provide proper water management, active or passive, would also be desirable.
Prior horticulture trays are designed for use with loose fill growing media, such as loose soil, or soil-less mixes. These trays often attempt to mitigate girdling by including small holes in the sides or walls of the trays that allow roots that reach the holes to be air pruned. However, these holes can air prune only the roots that come in contact with them. Prior trays have also attempted to mitigate girdling by including vertical protrusions perpendicular to the sidewalls to prevent roots from following the sidewalls in a horizontal or circular direction. These vertical protrusions still fail to adequately prevent root girdling and promote proper root architecture by directing roots back toward the center of the tray causing a spiraling root structure.
Furthermore, stabilized growing media, sometimes referred to as stabilized growth plugs, or by trade name (such as Ellepots™ by The Blackmore Company), exist as a convenient, economical alternative to loose fill. Stabilized growth plugs can include soil, mulch, or peat moss wrapped in biodegradable paper, or can include other organic or synthetic substrate which retains its shape without a separate, supporting pot structure. These stabilized growth plugs can be planted directly into the ground making transplanting easier and more economical. As such, there exists a need for trays designed for growing and transporting plants in stabilized growth plugs which overcome the limitations of conventional loose fill trays while promoting proper root architecture and water retention.